Growth/Impact of railroads on westward expansion

Comments (0)

Transcript of Growth/Impact of railroads on westward expansion

By: Genesis Denson Westward Expansion of railroads(impact and growth) Five impacts of the railroad on western expansion The History of the Transcontinental expansion They didn't have trucks or highways back then. If farmers wanted to ship their crops to market, it had to go by riverboat or train. Towns that had railroads prospered; town's that didn't dried up and blew away. What effects did railroads play in the expansion Establishment of railroads were around the 1800'sBetween 1850 and 1857, the Appalachian Mountains were crossed by five railway lines linking the Midwest and the East. In the late 1850s, a continuous line connected the lower Mississippi River with the southern Atlantic seaboard. And, on May 10, 1869, laborers completed the transcontinental railroad, linking the continent History of the railroad expansion The history of the United States has been influenced by England in many ways. In the second half of the 1800's, the railroad, which was invented in England, had a major effect on Western expansion in the United StatesRailroads were born in England, a country with dense populations, short distances between cities, and large financial resources. In America there were different circumstances, a sparse population in a huge country, large stretches between cities, and only the smallest amounts of money. The History of the Transcontinental Expansion

The first American railroads started in the 1830's from the Atlantic ports of Boston, New York City, Philadelphia,Wilmington, Charleston, and SavannahPioneering and westward expansion also fueled the growth of railroads while railroads, in turn, fueled pioneering and expansion. Pioneers' movement West created demand for means of transportation to new territories Quicker expansionFaster trade for the west More jobs TransportationNew technology Lots of towns didn't have reliable water transportation, so they needed railroads. Just HAVING 160 (320, 640) acres of corn, wheat or barley didn't make a farmer rich; he had to ship it to market to sell it. A train could carry hundreds of times more than a horse-drawn wagon, and do it cheaper. That cut down on the transportation cost, which in turn made it economically possible to grow wheat in Nebraska and Kansas, but sell it to New York